William
Boeing was the founder of the company. He made a large amount of money buy
buying and selling forestland in Washington. Being rich, he decided to move to
Los Angeles and went to the first American air meet in 1910. HE tried to get a
ride in one of the airplanes, but the pilots wouldn’t let him. He left
feeling a little bad, but he also wanted to learn as much as he could about
aviation. He then met with a man by the name of George Conrad Westervelt. He
was also interested with in the new field of aviation. They went on some
flights and decided that they themselves should go into business building and
selling airplanes.

In
1915 Boeing returned to California to learn to fly and to discuss matters with
Westervelt. Boeing told him to design a more practical new airplane. They then
decided to build a new seaplane. Westervelt being a Navy man was stationed in
the East before they were done with their aircraft. In 1916 Boeing had
completed two seaplanes named B & Ws.

Boeings
Company took off and he kept making aircrafts. When WW1 erupted, he knew that
the US was going to use planes in battle for the first time and they would need
training airplanes. The Navy ordered 50 Model C airplanes. This was the first
big order for Boeing.

After
the war, the production of airplanes almost came to a stand still. The military
only needed a couple of airplanes and they were not ordering aircraft left and
right like they were during the war. Also the demand for private aircraft
declined. With nothing to sell, the Boeing Company was looking at an early
death for their company that they had worked so hard to create.

Desperately trying
to survive, the Boeing Company had to think quickly. They decided to expand
their company and produce such things as woman’s dresses and furniture.
This was truly a desperate step for the company, but it helped them to survive
until planes were needed again. They tried to get the company going again by
making mail trips with their planes. This worked on a small scale, but
production didn’t really pick up until Charles Lindbergh made his flight
across the Atlantic.

Antitrust
legislation caused Boeing to have to slit into 4 different companies. Boeing
Airplane Company was the main company that produced all of the airplanes. After
this happened, William Boeing decided to leave the company. He retired a rich
man. The new president of Boeing decided they should produce large passenger
planes.

In the
1940’s WW2 was happening and the company was contracted to build many
B-17 airplanes and others. This was a major turnaround for Boeing. After WW2,
Boeing factories shut down and 70,000 people lost their jobs. It was due to the
fact that airplanes simply were not needed anymore. Boeings next important
production was when they started to produce jet aircrafts. Boeing also helped
with the Apollo missions to space and to the moon. The Boeing Company moved
away from all aspects except military contracts and passenger jets. This is
still where the company is today.